The fashion trends in leather, accessories and components for footwear and leather goods, under the banner of the ‘Sensitive Culture’, will be leading players at Trend Selection New York, Anteprima in Milan and Lineapelle in Bologna.
Autumn-Winter 2007/08 will be the time for ‘Sensitive Culture’: the triumph of nature, understood as fashion, design, landscape architecture, gardens, terraces, advertising and books. The frenetic renewal of technology is joined by the quest for ‘Ethical Nature’. As a result, fashion demands the colours of nature and a return to natural materials and fibres. This will be the spirit of winter 2007/08 according to the Trend Selection Committee.
‘It will be a season inspired by people’s dreams – great and small – and by the emotion and energy that move the human race. It will be a season elevating the female side to the new heights, marked by luxury that is free of excesses and strives for a more subtle femininity, yet also a new sleekness that looks towards natural things, with a simplification of forms enriched by materials’, explains the Trend Selection experts.
Peace, Passion and Life are the three themes which have been selected. Peace is the dream of physical and mental well-being, of paradise on earth between reality and mysticism, to help us rediscover the angelic woman. Therefore, the colours will be as light, ethereal and delicate as a snowfall, in winter whites with darker counterpoints in leathery tones; the atmospheres are rarefied, combining decorative motifs with sinuous and enveloping lines. Everything will be characterised by a clean, soft look and a new simplicity that influences both casual and elegant styles.
Passion means inspiration that comes from the heart, the warm and deep emotion that pushes towards conquest. Between red and black, colours will underscore intense and energising contrasts, physical and mental stimulation, dynamism and concentration, for sensual and incisive atmospheres in clothing, where elegance reveals deeper hues in the darkness. In essence, a warrior woman in gleaming armour, a woman who moves in gothic yet futuristic atmospheres.
Life means dreams understood as the desire for balance and the recovery of values, in the wake of history and tradition. These garments embody the down-to-earth woman who has mastered her era and has turned to a natural, subtle and reassuring palette: a nest, feathers, a range of browns from the palest to the lightest nuances. A tastefully classic touch emerges on the catwalks, gazing at a past resplendent with class and elegance. Tradition will be revised with a contemporary slant, using traditional and enveloping fabrics that have been given a modern interpretation with a folk look.
These trends were on display at Anteprima in Milan from September 12-13. This was an opportunity to examine and compare the ideas of the leading companies, with an exclusive presentation of ideas and proposals to fine-tune the collections for Lineapelle. The 140 exhibiting companies targeted their traditional clientele. Footwear boasts a positive trend, particularly with reference to the top end. Leathergoods was the most dynamic sector, whereas clothing has consolidated the signs of recovery manifested at the beginning of the year.
The events will culminate with a focus on fashion ideas and business at Lineapelle which will be held in Bologna from October 17-19.